What's in a name
by TerryJ
Summary: The team is sitting around one night and learns a suprising detail about one of their own. new AN posted 51505


A/N: To all those who have already read and reviewed this story: I am sorry if my note about O'neill's 'real' name was offensive. I am pretty much a die-hard sg-1 follower and pay little heed to the actual movie. I know there are differences (e.g. tyler o'neillcharlie o'neill) but I stick completely to sg-1 canon (as best I can) and was unaware of the discrepancy. Sorry if my ignorance was offensive to anyone.

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The team was all sitting around Jack's house one night. Several empty bear bottles sat on the table and floor. Even Teal'c was inebriated, now that he was on tretonin he decided he would experiment with 'getting a buzz on'as O'Neill had said.

Conversation had died down when suddenly Jack said Daniel's name.

"Daniel Jackson."

Daniel looked up from his beer, "Yes?"

Jack seemed not hear him and just repeated the name, playing with the emphasis, "Daniel Jackson. **Daniel** Jackson. Daniel **Jackson**. **DanielJackson**."

By this point the entire team was looking at him with slight concern. Sure he had had a few drinks, but the general typically remained the most coherent while drinking. Their puzzlement ended when Jack spoke again,

"Daniel, do you even have a middle name?"

Daniel didn't say anything, but rather stared at Jack. Sam scrunched up her face as if in deep thought before she too questioned Daniel, "Yeah, actually that's a good point. Why do you always introduce yourself as Daniel Jackson? Do you not have a middle name?"

Daniel's eyes darted between Jack and Sam before finally answering. "I introduce myself as Daniel Jackson because Daniel is a fairly common name but if I right away combine it with my last name people are more likely to remember it."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "That is a reasonable point, DanielJackson, yet you have not answered the more intriguing question posed by O'Neill and Col. Carter. Do you have a middle name?"

Daniel suddenly became very interested in his fingernails.

"Daniel?" Came the general's impatient tone.

"Well what about you guys? Huh? What's your middle name Sam? And why do you go by Sam instead of Samantha? And Jack, what's your middle name? Why Jack instead of Jonathan?"

Jack shrugged at Sam who nodded before speaking, "Okay, that's a fair point, but we'll tell you if you tell us." She paused, waiting for a sign of agreement from Daniel. When he shrugged she continued, "My middle name is Grace, after my grandmother and I go by Sam because when I was in kindergarten I couldn't spell Samantha so I told everyone I wanted to be called Sam so I would only have to write three letters."

"HA!" Jack burst out laughing. "Are you serious? That is great! The smartest woman in the entire freakin universe got her name because she couldn't spell her...uh...name...HA."

"I'm glad you're amused sir," she said with a glare, "It's your turn."

"Oh, well, hrm yes lets see..." he started, still trying to calm down from his laughter. "My middle name is Jacob actually. That's the real reason why I like Carter's Dad, he's got a good name. As for why Jack instead of Jonathan, why would I go by something that's not my name?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"I do not understand O'Neill."

"Guuuuuuuys. Hello? My name isn't Jonathan. It's John. J-O-H-N. John. Typically, where I'm from at least, Jack is never a nick name for Jonathan, it is however, for John. I thought you guys knew that. Anyway, I go by Jack because my Dad is John and by the time I was 16 I was sick and tired of people calling me Johnny so as to differentiate between the two of us."

"Awww...Johnny didn't like to be called Johnny? awwww..." Daniel started in a coo-y little kid voice while Sam and Teal'c smirked.

"Can it Daniel. No it's your turn...what is the big mystery!"

Daniel once again turned sheepish, turning the beer bottle over and over again in his hands, looking anywhere but his teammates.

"Well, its not like its a huge deal. You just have understand the environment in which I was born. My parents were kind of hippies, you know, looking for peace and wanting understanding, yadda yadda yadda...well, so, you see..."

The general was getting short tempered again, "No Daniel, we don't see. Just spit it out. One word. Your middle name. It isn't complicated."

Daniel took a deep sigh before murmuring, "Rainbow."

"What?"

Daniel grimaced and looked back up defiantly. "My name is Daniel Rainbow Jackson."

There was silence in the house for about 10 seconds before even Teal'c erupted in to the loudest and longest laughing spree that Colorado Springs had ever heard.

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A/N: This silly little story was born because I was frustrated by people misnaming Jack, Jonathan. In Entity when the team members are being scanned you can clearly see his name is John. Also in Fragile Balance right after the title montage the camera is shown O'Neill's ID card to say "O'Neill, John J." I'm generally not picky about details, my stories are probably loaded with inaccuracies, but for some reason names drive me crazy. So this is just my little way of telling my fellow writers "His name is not Jonathan." People do the same thing for Law and Order too...just irks me for no apparent reason. 

Also, I put Sam's middle name as Grace because for some reason during the episode Grace I always thought that maybe Grace was Sam as a little girl. Just my thought.


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